Officials of Hutch India, H-P and Nokia at the launch of Visual Radio in New Delhi on Tuesday. (PTI)

New Delhi, July 25: Nokia and Hewlett Packard today launched Visual Radio in India, a technology that will enable listeners to do more than just listen to the radio on their mobile handsets.

Tuning in to the visual radio will be a completely new experience, as the radio is more visual and interactive with more information and opportunities to participate and give feedback.

Users can download songs as ring tones and interact live through quizzes and audience polls. However, a GPRS-enabled handset is mandatory to access the visual radio.

The technology, developed by Nokia and offered by H-P, will broadcast radio programmes through the cellular network, which will be visible on the screen of the handset.

Visual Radio handsets are already available in the country with applications but Hutch is the first mobile service provider to offer this service, said Naveen Chopra, marketing head of Hutch.

Chopra, however, declined to comment on the revenue sharing pattern of the collaboration.

Nokia’s Visual Radio handsets are available in the price range of Rs 6,000 and Rs 25,000. Chopra said there would be no rental for GPRS connections in case of post-paid connections. Only usage charges, including the downloading charges, will apply.

Airtel is also expected to launch the service sometime this year. The normal charges for downloading are 10 paise per 10 kb.

Hutch has close to a million GPRS subscribers, Chopra said, adding that 10 per cent of the mobile operators’ revenues come from value-added services.

The technology has already been launched in the UK, Finland, Spain and Singapore.

After India, Thailand is on the roadmap.

Kapil Jain, vice-president of H-P Services, H-P India, said, “Even though the technology has been recently launched in these countries, our experience has been great as we have seen the use of GPRS phones and services going up.”

Visual Radio is available on Nokia NSeries devices (Nokia N70, Nokia N71, Nokia N72 Nokia N80, Nokia N91) and select Nokia phones (Nokia 3230, Nokia 3250).